1955–56 Maccabi Haifa F.C. season

Maccabi Haifa
1955–56 season
Manager	Ya'akov Stern
Stadium	Kiryat Haim Stadium ; Kiryat Eliezer Stadium
Liga Alef (1955) ; Liga Leumit (1956)	6th ; 5th
State Cup	Semi-finals
Top goalscorer	League: Jonny Hardy (15); All: Jonny Hardy (16)
	← 1954–55 1956–57 →

The 1955–56 Maccabi Haifa season was the club's 43rd season since its establishment in 1913, and 8th since the establishment of the State of Israel.

At the start of the season, the league which started during the previous season was completed, with the club finishing 6th. The new league season, with the top division being renamed Liga Leumit, began on 3 December 1955 and was completed on 3 June 1956, with the club finishing 5th.^[1]

During the season, the club also competed in the State Cup, which was also carried over the summer break. The club eliminated city rivals Hapoel Haifa in the quarter-finals, winning 4–0,^[2]^[3] but was defeated by Maccabi Tel Aviv 0–5 in the semi-finals.^[4]

On 15 September 1955 a new stadium, Kiryat Eliezer Stadium, officially called Haifa Municipal Stadium or Luigi Antonini Stadium,^[5]^[6] was opened with a match between a Haifa XI and a Tel Aviv XI.^[7] Maccabi Haifa started playing home matches in the stadium on 24 September 1955, starting with a match against Hapoel Haifa.^[8]

Match Results

Legend

Win Draw Loss

International friendly matches

During the season Maccabi Haifa played three international friendly matches, losing all of them.

16 February 1956	Maccabi Haifa	2–3	Kapfenberger SV	Haifa
	Ben-Tzvi 8' Litvak 72'	Davar (in Hebrew)	60' Wirboda 65' Hauberger 87' Gollnhuber	Stadium: Kiryat Eliezer Stadium Attendance: 6,500 Referee: Klein

5 May 1956	Maccabi Haifa	3–4	Sunderland	Haifa
	Held 23', 58' Almani 41'		16' Elliott 76' Fleming 81' Morrison 87' Shackleton	Stadium: Kiryat Eliezer Stadium Attendance: 10,000 Referee: Sher

30 June 1956	Maccabi Haifa	1–4	First Vienna	Tel Aviv
	Almani 71'		51', 73', 47' Buzek 67' Manasse	Stadium: Basa Stadium Attendance: 6,000 Referee: Palman

1954–55 Liga Alef

The league began on 6 February 1955, and by the time the previous season ended, only 20 rounds of matches were completed, with the final 6 rounds being played during September and October 1955.^[9]

Final table

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GR	Pts
4	Maccabi Netanya	26	13	7	6	54	43	1.256	33
5	Beitar Tel Aviv	26	12	5	9	64	47	1.362	29
6	Maccabi Haifa	26	11	6	9	54	41	1.317	28
7	Maccabi Petah Tikva	26	10	7	9	37	41	0.902	27
8	Maccabi Rehovot	26	11	4	11	49	48	1.021	26

Source: 100 Years of Football 1906-2006, Elisha Shohat (Israel), 2006

Matches

3 September 1955 21	Maccabi Haifa	3–2	Hapoel Hadera	Haifa
	Tenenbaum 18', 76' Georgiou 46'	Report (p. 8)	30' Rubin 41' (o.g.) T. Cohen	Stadium: Kiryat Haim Stadium Attendance: 2,000 Referee: Rosenbaum

10 September 1955 22	Hapoel Balfouria	0–6	Maccabi Haifa	Afula
		Report (p. 8)	7' Hardy 19', 82' Fuchs 31' (pen.) Ben-Tzvi 73', 88' Held	Stadium: Hapoel Ground Attendance: 500 Referee: Markovich

24 September 1955 23	Maccabi Haifa	4–1	Hapoel Haifa	Haifa
	Hardy 41' Fuchs 65' Held 75' Tenenbaum 87'	Report (p. 8)	24' Kremer	Stadium: Kiryat Eliezer Stadium Attendance: 6,000 Referee: Fritzner

1 October 1955 24	Maccabi Rehovot	3–2	Maccabi Haifa	Rehovot
	Shrager 13', 32' Litvak 75'	Report (p. 8)	39' Hardy 78' Fuchs	Stadium: Maccabi Ground Attendance: 2,200 Referee: Werner

8 October 1955 25	Maccabi Haifa	0–3	Hapoel Tel Aviv	Haifa
		Report (p. 8)	43', 61' Yehudayoff 81' Michaelov	Stadium: Kiryat Eliezer Stadium Attendance: 5,000 Referee: Rosenbaum

15 October 1955 26	Maccabi Petah Tikva	3–3	Maccabi Haifa	Petah Tikva
	Spiegel 31' Itzhaki 36' Leba 89' (pen.)	Report (p. 8)	47' Held 73', 81' Hardy	Stadium: Maccabi Ground Attendance: 1,000 Referee: Fried

Results by match

Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26
Result	L	L	D	L	W	L	L	W	D	L	W	D	L	W	W	W	W	D	W	D	W	W	W	L	L	D
Position	12	12	12	12	12	12	13	13	12	13	9	11	11	10	8	6	7	6	6	6	6	5	4	5	5	6

Updated to match(es) played on 15 October 1955. Source: 2 Dear Points
W = Win; D = Draw; L = Loss

1955–56 Liga Leumit

Final table

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GR	Pts
3	Hapoel Tel Aviv	22	12	5	5	49	29	1.690	29
4	Maccabi Petah Tikva	22	10	7	5	43	34	1.265	27
5	Maccabi Haifa	22	11	3	8	53	27	1.963	25
6	Hapoel Haifa	22	9	4	9	32	39	0.821	22
7	Beitar Tel Aviv	22	10	0	12	41	48	0.854	20

Source: Davar (in Hebrew)
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal ratio 3) goals scored.

Matches

3 December 1955 1	Maccabi Haifa	1–2	Hapoel Petah Tikva	Haifa
	Almani 80'		24' (pen.) Kofman 76' Chirik	Stadium: Kiryat Eliezer Stadium Attendance: 4,000 Referee: Ben-Rubi

10 December 1955 2	Hapoel Kfar Saba	1–4	Maccabi Haifa	Kfar Saba
	Bulman 60'		6', 62' Menchel 25', 84' S. Levi	Stadium: Hapoel Ground Attendance: 1,400 Referee: Moshe Cohen

17 December 1955 3	Maccabi Haifa	1–3	Maccabi Tel Aviv	Haifa
	Ben-Tzvi 53' (pen.)		7' Merimovich 55' Israeli 88' Studinski	Stadium: Kiryat Eliezer Stadium Attendance: 5,000 Referee: Fritzner

24 December 1955 4	Maccabi Haifa	5–0	Maccabi Rehovot	Haifa
	Ben-Tzvi 8' (pen.) Held 42', 75' S. Levi 67' Hardy 86'			Stadium: Kiryat Eliezer Stadium Attendance: 3,500 Referee: Fried

31 December 1955 5	Hapoel Tel Aviv	0–2	Maccabi Haifa	Tel Aviv
			22', 66' S. Levi	Stadium: Basa Stadium Attendance: 8,000 Referee: Levichter

7 January 1956 6	Maccabi Jaffa	3–2	Maccabi Haifa	Tel Aviv
	Ghougasian 38', 78' Miranda 61'		53' Hardy 85' Almani	Stadium: Maccabi Jaffa Ground Attendance: 3,000 Referee: Fried

14 January 1956 7	Beitar Tel Aviv	1–6	Maccabi Haifa	Tel Aviv
	Huli 90'		2', 38', 47' Georgiou 27' Hardy 51' Held 84' S. Levi	Stadium: Maccabi Jaffa Ground Referee: Werner

21 January 1956 8	Maccabi Haifa	5–0	Hapoel Haifa	Haifa
	Hardy 39' S. Levi 60', 86', 89' Almani 76'			Stadium: Kiryat Eliezer Stadium Attendance: 6,500 Referee: Ben-Rubi

11 February 1956 9	Maccabi Haifa	1–3	Maccabi Petah Tikva	Haifa
	S. Levi 9'		16', 17' Spiegel 67' Carmeli	Stadium: Kiryat Eliezer Stadium Attendance: 5,537 Referee: Dudkevich

18 February 1956 10	Maccabi Haifa	0–2	Maccabi Netanya	Haifa
			43', 50' (pen.) I. Caspi	Stadium: Kiryat Eliezer Stadium Referee: Fried

25 February 1956 11	Hapoel Ramat Gan	0–1	Maccabi Haifa	Givatayim
			36' Hardy	Stadium: HaMakhtesh Stadium Referee: Fritzner

3 March 1956 12	Hapoel Petah Tikva	1–3	Maccabi Haifa	Petah Tikva
	Z. Ratzabi 33'		16', 55' S. Levi 60' Hardy	Stadium: Hapoel Ground Attendance: 4,000 Referee: Fritzner

10 March 1956 13	Maccabi Haifa	1–2	Hapoel Kfar Saba	Haifa
	Abramovich 31'		57' Tzahobel 80' H. Glazer	Stadium: Kiryat Eliezer Stadium Attendance: 4,000 Referee: Wackermann

17 March 1956 14	Maccabi Tel Aviv	1–1	Maccabi Haifa	Tel Aviv
	Y. Glazer 18'		13' S. Levi	Stadium: Basa Stadium Attendance: 4,000 Referee: Moshe Cohen

24 March 1956 15	Maccabi Rehovot	0–3	Maccabi Haifa	Rehovot
			49' Held 63', 76' Menchel	Stadium: Maccabi Ground Referee: Rosenbaum

31 March 1956 16	Maccabi Haifa	2–2	Hapoel Tel Aviv	Haifa
	Ben-Tzvi 75' (pen.) Almani 83'		69' Michaelov 88' Balut	Stadium: Kiryat Eliezer Stadium Attendance: 6,000 Referee: Dudkevich

7 April 1956 17	Maccabi Haifa	5–1	Maccabi Jaffa	Haifa
	Held 10', 22', 87' Menchel 45' Hardy 67'		34' B. Cohen	Stadium: Kiryat Eliezer Stadium Attendance: 4,000 Referee: Rosenbaum

14 April 1956 18	Maccabi Haifa	4–2	Beitar Tel Aviv	Haifa
	Hardy 7', 52' Held 10', 55'		39' Gleit 73' Huli	Stadium: Kiryat Eliezer Stadium Attendance: 5,000 Referee: Hillman

22 April 1956 19	Hapoel Haifa	0–0	Maccabi Haifa	Haifa
				Stadium: Kiryat Eliezer Stadium Attendance: 7,000 Referee: Sher

19 May 1956 20	Maccabi Petah Tikva	2–0	Maccabi Haifa	Petah Tikva
	Spiegel 35' Scharf 72'			Stadium: Maccabi Ground, Petah Tikva

27 May 1956 21	Maccabi Netanya	3–1	Maccabi Haifa	Netanya
	Shrager 9' Orenstein 50' Statzki 64'		88' (o.g.) H. Meller	Stadium: Sar-Tov Stadium Attendance: 1,500 Referee: Sher

2 June 1956 22	Maccabi Haifa	3–0	Hapoel Ramat Gan	Haifa
	S. Levi 32' Menchel 38' Hardy 65'			Stadium: Kiryat Eliezer Stadium Referee: Werner

Results by match

Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22
Result	L	W	L	W	W	L	W	W	L	L	W	W	L	D	W	D	W	W	D	L	L	W
Position	10	5	7	6	5	6	4	4	5	6	5	5	6	5	5	5	5	4	5	5	5	5

Updated to match(es) played on 28 July 1956. Source: IFA
W = Win; D = Draw; L = Loss

State Cup

27 August 1955 QF	Maccabi Haifa	4–0	Hapoel Haifa	Haifa
	Georgiou 36' Hardy 37' Held 53' Fuchs 71'	Report (p. 8)		Stadium: Kiryat Haim Stadium Attendance: 3,000 Referee: Ben-Rubi

22 October 1955 SF	Maccabi Haifa	0–5	Maccabi Tel Aviv	Petah Tikva
		Report (p. 8)	36' Merimovich 40', 55', 84' Studinski 89' Glazer	Stadium: Hapoel Ground Attendance: 2,500 Referee: Ben-Rubi

Shapira Cup

While the promotion playoffs and the State Cup were being played in October and November, two cup competitions were organized by Liga Leumit Clubs, the second edition of the Shapira Cup, and the Netanya 25th Anniversary Cup. Maccabi Haifa, Hapoel Petah Tikva, Maccabi Tel Aviv and Hapoel Tel Aviv played for the Shapira Cup, named after former Hapoel Tel Aviv treasurer Yosef Shapira. The competition was designed to be played as a double round-robin tournament. However, the competition was delayed after the teams played only two matches each. The third-round matches were postponed due to weather conditions and the 1954–55 Israel State Cup final, which involved Maccabi Tel Aviv and Hapoel Petah Tikva. As league matches started on 3 December 1955, the competition was abandoned altogether.

Table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	GF	GA	GR	Pts
1	Maccabi Tel Aviv	2	2	0	7	4	1.750	4
2	Maccabi Haifa	2	1	1	7	7	1.000	2
3	Hapoel Petah Tikva	2	1	1	6	6	1.000	2
4	Hapoel Tel Aviv	2	0	2	3	6	0.500	0

Source: Hadshot HaSport, p. 1

27 August 1955 1	Maccabi Haifa	4–2	Hapoel Petah Tikva	Tel Aviv
	Ben-Tzvi 60' (pen.) Parizat 69' (o.g.) S. Levi 88' Held 89'		24' Kofman 40' Stelmach	Stadium: Basa Stadium Attendance: 5,000 Referee: Dudkevich

5 November 1955 2	Maccabi Tel Aviv	5–3	Maccabi Haifa	Tel Aviv
	Glazer 6', 15', 17', 19' Miremovich 78'	Report (p. 8)	8', 89' Hardy 10' Menchel	Stadium: Basa Stadium Attendance: 5,500 Referee: Moshe Cohen

References

^ Maccabi T.A. Won the Liga Leumit Championship After Beating Hapoel T.A. 3:0 (1:0) Davar, 3 June 1956, Historical Jewish Press (in Hebrew)
^ Maccabi T.A. – Maccabi Haifa, Hapoel P.T. – Hapoel R.G. in the semi-finals Hadshot HaSport, 28 August 1955, p. 1 (in Hebrew)
^ Many Went to Jaffa – and Missed a Drama in P.T. Izhar Brener, 31 August 1955, Hadshot HaSport, p. 2 (in Hebrew)
^ Studinski Repaid His Debt With Interest... Hadshot HaSport, 23 October 1955, p. 8 (in Hebrew)
^ Luigi Rocco Antonini Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine luigiantonini.com
^ Named After Mati Sin-Krona, 11 May 2014, MiTzad Sheni (in Hebrew)
^ Tel Aviv team – Haifa team 3:3 Davar, 16 September 1955, Historical Jewish Press (in Hebrew)
^ Abba Left at Four Archived 2016-09-21 at the Wayback Machine Mordechai Alon, 11 December 2014, Maccabi Haifa (in Hebrew)
^ 1955-1955 Liga Leumit Schedule Archived 2015-07-26 at the Wayback Machine dribblist.com (in Hebrew)

[1] Maccabi T.A. Won the Liga Leumit Championship After Beating Hapoel T.A. 3:0 (1:0) Davar, 3 June 1956, Historical Jewish Press (in Hebrew)

[2] Maccabi T.A. – Maccabi Haifa, Hapoel P.T. – Hapoel R.G. in the semi-finals Hadshot HaSport, 28 August 1955, p. 1 (in Hebrew)

[3] Many Went to Jaffa – and Missed a Drama in P.T. Izhar Brener, 31 August 1955, Hadshot HaSport, p. 2 (in Hebrew)

[4] Studinski Repaid His Debt With Interest... Hadshot HaSport, 23 October 1955, p. 8 (in Hebrew)

[5] Luigi Rocco Antonini Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine luigiantonini.com

[6] Named After Mati Sin-Krona, 11 May 2014, MiTzad Sheni (in Hebrew)

[7] Tel Aviv team – Haifa team 3:3 Davar, 16 September 1955, Historical Jewish Press (in Hebrew)

[8] Abba Left at Four Archived 2016-09-21 at the Wayback Machine Mordechai Alon, 11 December 2014, Maccabi Haifa (in Hebrew)

[9] 1955-1955 Liga Leumit Schedule Archived 2015-07-26 at the Wayback Machine dribblist.com (in Hebrew)

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